I Think I See the Problem

posted by m.d.


From the T-P:

Six bank accounts belonging to the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office were frozen Thursday by a court order seeking payment for the $3.4 million judgment brought on by former DA Eddie Jordan's firing of scores of white employees in 2003.

The new D.A.:

In fact, just yesterday I met with the Mayor, City Council, business community, and other community leaders to provide a detailed analysis along with potential plans for finding a win-win solution.

The Mayor:

I have met with the new DA, members of City Council, business and community leaders to fully analyze the financial impact of the Federal judgment against the District Attorney's Office and to evaluate the steps needed to avoid a disruption in our criminal justice system.

Is any one talking to the plaintiffs’ attorneys?

Comparing Disasters

posted by m.d.


It looks like Katrina in Mexico, except for one thing:

Images of filthy water engulfing Mexico's southern city as residents clung to the rooftops were reminiscent of the flooding that devastated New Orleans in 2005. But in the desolation of Villahermosa, there has been no widespread breakdown in law and order or four-figure death tolls. On the contrary, observers here say that Mexico's rapid response to its worst flooding in recent history was a factor in averting a catastrophe on the level of Katrina.

***

"You never felt that the government had totally disappeared even though our homes and city had been destroyed. You saw that officials were here and some help was coming in," said Javier Mendoza, 43, who fled his house with his family of eight on a navy boat.

The cynic in me wants to say, "Just wait two years."

NOLA's 40+ Under 21

posted by m.d.


Not to take anything away from Gambit's 40under40 issue, but there is another 40 list I'd like to point out.

As of today, (at least) 41 people under the age of 21 have been murdered in the city of New Orleans in 2007.


View Larger Map

Just think about it. Instead of going to high school or college, they are dead. Nine in Central City alone.

And going by Greg Rigamer's new population estimates, New Orleans' murder rate for 2007 is 74 murders per 100,000 residents. 182 reported murders to date.

Like Katrina in Mexico

posted by m.d.


Less lives lost, but it sounds pretty bad:

Rescue workers rushed to pick up victims of a catastrophic flood in the southeastern Mexican state of Tabasco over the weekend, where as many as a million people were reported to be homeless and the state Governor compared his capital, Villahermosa, to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Navy helicopters picked women and children up from the roofs of waterlogged buildings, while rescue workers on the surface helped elderly people into boats. Most able-bodied adults swam or waded through the filthy flood waters, which rose to four feet or more in the streets of the capital.

City of Souls

posted by m.d.


October was a deadly month. 31 days. 26 murders.

Nothing is changing.

One day into November, one murder.

As of November 1, 2007, 305 days into the year, 179 human beings have died a violent death on the streets of New Orleans. All but eight were shot. All but 13 were men. The average age of the murdered was 28. Almost two thirds were under 30.

If nothing changes – and nothing has – 2007 will end with 214 murders. That’s a murder every 1.4 days – almost a murder every day and a half. In a city of 300,000 people, this comes to a murder rate of 71 murders per 100,000 residents.

October:

Dwayne Landry, 25
Don Smith, 45
Demetrius Gooden, 33
Townsend Bennett, 23
unidentified man, 37
Gregory Hayes, 18
Charles Miller, 19
Eddie Bernard, 23
unidentified man
Carmen Leona Reese, 18
Cedrick Brooks, 32
Waldon Howard, 19
unidentified man
Antwon McGee, 22
Jason Anderson, 27
Archie Solet, 32
Shana Thomas, 23
Brian Lee, 16
David Bryan Alford Jr., 21
Brett Jason Jacobs, 25
Howard Pickens, 51
Darryl Daggons, 40
Matthew Qualls, 27
unidentified man
unidentified man
Toran Landry, 25
Anthony Walker, 28

We Will Not Be Protected from a Hurricane Four Times More Likely to Hit Us than Katrina until 2011

posted by m.d.


CORRECTION: The original title was wrong, as pointed out by mominem in comments. It said: "We Will Not Be Protected from a Hurricane 25% as Strong as Katrina until 2011." A 100-year storm is four times more likley to come in any year (if my math is correct here) than a 400-year storm. But, not necessarily 25% as strong. I hate being wrong. The following info is still worthwhile, however.

If that:

Dozens of construction projects launched by the Army Corps of Engineers to protect the New Orleans region from the most catastrophic floods are behind schedule by an average of nearly eight months, an internal audit shows. Local officials are concerned the completion date will have to be pushed back a second time.

***

Local officials worry that the corps now will miss its revised June 2011 deadline for getting the region protected against a 100-year flood — a flood so bad it has only a 1% chance of hitting in any year. The corps pushed back its original January 2010 deadline earlier this year.

Katrina was a 400-year storm. The US Army Corps of Engineers is building a levee system capable of handling a 100-year storm.

I just thought I would point that out to the rest of country.

Our New Governor Speaks Bubba

posted by m.d.


I don't even speak Bubba:

WALLACE: Governor-Elect Jindal, you ran four years ago and lost in some part because of the discomfort of some people from your state with voting for the son of an Indian immigrant.

This time around there were bumper stickers, Bubbas for Bobby. Can you speak Bubba? And how did you reach out to them? How did you break down the barrier?

JINDAL: Well, two things. I think the reason we lost last time was more of a lack of familiarity. We came out of nowhere in the polls. We were polling at 3 percent when we got in, surprised a lot of people by getting in the runoff, had six weeks to introduce myself to a large portion of our population.

This time, we traveled to every of one of 64 parishes multiple times. We probably traveled and met with more voters than all my opponents combined.

I think once voters got to know who I was beyond what they saw on T.V. and read in the newspapers — they know I'm a fiscal conservative. They know that I'm pro-life, know that I've been endorsed by the NRA.

And Chris Wallace called Jindal "a GOP rock star."

Rock on, Bubba Jindal.

The Black and Gold Worked

Saints won. Now let's try black and white.

I Am the One in Five

I didn’t realize I was superstitious until the Kentucky game. And I didn’t realize the role of superstition in my life until the Auburn game.

I walk under ladders. I step on cracks. I curse the gods. I don’t eat black-eyed peas and cabbage on New Year’s Day.

I do or don’t do all these things to prove a point. Superstitions are for the superstitious. Not for me. And if the universe somehow does punish you or reward you for your adherence to superstitious ritual, then I like succeeding with the universe against me. And what better excuse for the occasional failure than “I was battling the universe. What do you expect?”

Though I am okay with what the Fates might have planned for me, I realized a couple weeks ago that I am not okay with my actions stepping on the happiness of others.

Before this year’s LSU/Kentucky game, I wore my LSU 2005 Championship t-shirt for every game. I didn’t really do it for superstition. It’s the only LSU shirt I have that fits me.

But, the day of the game, I had some friends over. We started the partying early, and when the evening game started, I just wore whatever I had been wearing all day. And LSU lost.

I needed an explanation for what happened. Why? Why Kentucky? LSU played good enough to win. How could they lose? What was different?

The shirt. I didn’t have the shirt on. My choice of apparel doomed my team.

Did it really? Doesn’t matter. Superstition exists because it served a purpose at some point in humanity’s social and biological evolution. Who am I to deny that which made me human?

So, the Auburn game comes along – another evening game. It is also election day, and, as a news person, I have to work. Guess what: I forget to wear the t-shirt again.

Before the game, I call my wife from work and tell her that she or my son – somebody – must wear the t-shirt. I or my family can not be blamed for destroying LSU’s championship hopes.

Confident that the Fates will be satisfied with my game day audible, I continue about my work. My job is to coordinate three live shots at the candidates’ headquarters by phone. I stay on the phone the entire night. There’s three problems with that:

1) I can’t hear. My right ear is worse than my left ear, which isn’t that great. And I really can’t hear on the phone, especially with all the background noise at the candidates’ headquarters, including some very loud congos at one of them. This resulted in quite a few exchanges like this: “What? Say it again. I can’t hear you. Huh? Nevermind.”

2) I pace around when I am on the phone. This is not good when using a phone with a cord. Fortunately, nothing expensive got knocked over.

3) One of the monitors in the control room was set to the LSU game. I could see them losing, which increased both my difficulty in hearing the live shots due to the distraction and increased my pacing due to the anxiety. (An aside: Patrick Swayze’s Roadhouse was on another monitor and a lot of us found ourselves watching it. Strange.)

LSU was losing. I didn’t understand. My wife was wearing the t-shirt. Universe, what more do you want?

I later learned that my wife forgot to put on the t-shirt, until the fourth quarter. She told me that she put the shirt on, and LSU then score a touchdown to go ahead. They fell behind briefly, and then the crazy touchdown pass with one second left. And the shirt was on.

A few days after, I read about this poll that says one in five sports fans have some superstitious ritual they perform for their team to win. While I am not superstitious in general, I am now the one in five. Until it doesn’t work anymore.

Also, since I can’t decide on a color scheme for my blog, I will travel the superstitious route and go with my team-of-the-day’s colors. Go Saints.

A Response Like No Other

I have worked in the TV news business for almost eight years. In that time, I have never seen a staged press conference like FEMA put on Tuesday:

FEMA announced the news conference at its Southwest Washington headquarters about 15 minutes before it was to begin Tuesday afternoon, making it unlikely that reporters could attend. Instead, FEMA set up a telephone conference line so reporters could listen.

In the briefing, parts of which were televised live by cable news channels, [FEMA's deputy administrator Harvey] Johnson stood behind a lectern, called on questioners who did not disclose that they were FEMA employees, and gave replies emphasizing that his agency's response to this week's California wildfires was far better than its response to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

A press conference is itself a staged event, completely controlled by the people standing behind the podium. They choose the topic, they choose who to let in, they choose who may ask questions, and they even choose which questions will be answered.

But, at least the reporters who ask questions at a press conference don’t already know the answers. They are truly seeking information they don’t have. And, as that information is revealed question by question, answer by answer, it always leads to new questions, and eventually – in theory – leads to the story which must be told.

Those FEMA employees were asking questions that *they already knew the answers to*. Despite their noble intentions, they were doing no more than acting.

Then there’s this:

FEMA employees posed as reporters while real reporters listened on a telephone conference line and were barred from asking questions.

The reporters could not ask questions on the conference call? Does FEMA’s Southwest Washington headquarters not have a speaker phone? A simple email could have gotten the same information out, without the pretend questions.

I can only assume that FEMA’s purpose for the fake press conference – you can not have a real “press” conference without the press there – was for public relations. They wanted the public to see them doing a press conference. A simple email would not have accomplished this.

Why do this? If FEMA’s purpose is to clean their reputation after a disastrous disaster response to Katrina, then an effective response to the wildfires will not do it. With all respect and due empathy to the Southern Californians whose lives have been altered by the fires, the comparisons to Katrina are cosmetic, just like FEMA’s fake press conference. The wildfires are their own disaster, not another Katrina.

The numbers just don’t reach Katrina proportions. This example does it for me: As of last night, more than 1,800 homes were destroyed by the wildfires. As of last night, more than two years after Katrina, there are still more than 1,800 hurricane-damaged homes in New Orleans yet to be demolished.

If you want to know more about FEMA's response like no other, they have a page on their website.

ADDED: While that one statistic does it for me, if you need more, the T-P has it.

Fun with Colors

...and fun with two sidebars.

The Mayor on the Pace of Recovery

Comments made yesterday by Mayor Nagin on ABC26 News, 3 minutes 11 seconds into the video:

Well, you know, on a scale of 1 to 10, I think it is a six or a seven. It’s been hard. It’s been difficult. The dollars we thought we were going to get were slow to come. A lot of businesses and projects we thought we would move were hindered by insurance costs that are here.

I think that we are seeing the corner. We just haven’t turned it yet. Because the population continues to grow, we continue to improve on certain city functions everyday, and it’s just part of this long road that we’re on.

Link to video in Windows Media Player.

Link to ABC26 News website.

More Boots on the Streets

Actually, the same amount of boots. They will just be out there longer, wearing out their soles a little more:

Starting this week, uniformed officers in most New Orleans police districts will be on duty 12 hours a day, five days a week.

The move to 60-hour workweeks, proposed last month by Police Superintendent Warren Riley, means more officers will be on the street to battle the city's seemingly intractable violent-crime problem. The mandatory overtime shifts, opposed by two of the city's largest police associations, are scheduled to end at the close of the year.

The overtime patrols will be in five districts only: 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 7th. These districts are the most violent districts. 136 murders out of the 151 murders in New Orleans this year (that I have counted going by media reports) occurred in these five districts.

Here’s the murder breakdown by district:

1st – 31 murders
2nd – 17 murders
3rd – 2 murders
4th – 13 murders
5th – 35 murders
6th – 27 murders
7th – 26 murders
8th – 0 murders

September had 13 murders by my count. That is the lowest number since February, which also had 13 murders (by my count). Interestingly, none of murders were in the 1st District, which has one of the highest totals for the year (31). There were six murders in August in the 1st District. I hope that is a sign of positive things to come.

At the end of the third quarter of 2007, I count 151 murders this year in the city of New Orleans. In a city with a population of 300,000, that comes to a murder rate of 67 murders per 100,000 residents. We are averaging a murder every 1.8 days, basically a murder every other day. We are on track for 201 murders by the end of the year. If nothing changes, 50 more human beings will die a violent death on the streets of New Orleans. Most of those who die will be black men under thirty, shot to death.

Even with two of the lowest monthly totals for the year, the third quarter still had more murders than the first or second quarters:

First Quarter – 48 murders
*Jan – 17
*Feb – 13
*Mar – 18

Second Quarter – 50 murders
*Apr – 15
*May – 15
*Jun – 20

Third Quarter – 53 murders
*Jul – 14
*Aug – 26
*Sep – 13

My numbers differ from the NOPD’s official numbers because the NOPD records a murder in the month that the victim dies. If a person is shot in February but dies in March, the NOPD records it as a March murder. I count it as a February murder.

Also, I count murders solely by media reports. If a murder has not been reported by the media, I don’t know about it. For example, the T-P article says there were 29 murders in August. I know one June victim died in August, so the NOPD would count that as an August murder. However, I can not find media reports on the other two murders. I can not count them if I have no evidence to cite.

Therefore, my count should be considered the lowest count possible. There are “at least” 151 murders in New Orleans this year. Unfortunately, there might be more that I don’t know about.

The Projects

HUD says HANO can demolish four housing developments in New Orleans:

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees HANO, announced that it had approved the application for demolition of 4,500 units of the aging brick buildings that have housed the city's poor for more than a half century.

Within two to three months, wrecking crews will descend upon the so-called "Big Four" developments: C.J. Peete in Central City, St. Bernard in the 7th Ward, B.W. Cooper off Earhart Boulevard, and Lafitte, which borders Treme.

Mixed-income housing, along the lines of River Garden, will replace the four housing developments. As HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson said in November 2005, “We are not going to build traditional public housing anymore.”

In New Orleans, when you tear down a building, you are never just tearing down a building. Let’s see exactly how we built “traditional public housing” in New Orleans.

Lafitte Housing Development, built in 1941:



B.W. Cooper Housing Development, first phase (red) built in 1941, second phase (pink) in 1954:



C.J. Peete Housing Development, first phase (red) built in 1941, second phase (demolished in 2004) in 1955:



St. Bernard Housing Development, first phase (red) built in 1942, second phase (pink) built in 1943:



Iberville Housing Development, built in 1941, but not set for demolition:



Notice the layout of the first phases of the housing developments built in the 40s. The New York Times noticed in November 2006:

Built at the height of the New Deal, the city’s public housing projects have little in common with the dehumanizing superblocks and grim plazas that have long been an emblem of urban poverty. Modestly scaled, they include some of the best public housing built in the United States.

***

But if the sight of workers dynamiting an abandoned housing complex was a cause for celebration in Chicago’s North Side, the notion is stupefying in New Orleans, whose public housing embodies many of those same New Urbanist ideals: pedestrian friendly environments whose pitched roofs, shallow porches and wrought iron rails have as much to do with 19th-century historical precedents as with late Modernism.

More specifically, they were inspired by local developments such as the 1850s Pontalba Apartments and late-19th “Garden City” proposals, whose winding tree-lined streets and open green spaces were seen as an antidote to the filth and congestion of the industrial city.

The low red-brick housing blocks of the Lafitte Avenue project, in the historically black neighborhood of Treme, for example, are scaled to fit within the surrounding neighborhood of Creole cottages and shotgun houses. To lessen the sense of isolation, the architects extended the surrounding street grid through the site with a mix of roadways and pedestrian paths. As you move deeper into the complex, the buildings frame a series of communal courtyards sheltered by the canopies of enormous oak trees. Nature, here, was intended to foster spiritual as well as physical well being.

That care was reflected in the quality of construction as well. Solidly built, the buildings’ detailed brickwork, tile roofs and wrought-iron balustrades represent a level of craft more likely found on an Ivy League campus than in a contemporary public housing complex.

They would be almost impossible to reproduce in the kind of bottom-line developments that have become the norm.

The second phases, and the housing developments constructed after the 40s, do not embody those New Urbanist ideals quite as much in their layouts. Wanting to change that, HUD and HANO demolished some public housing and rebuilt it based on some of those ideals.

St. Thomas Housing Development, now River Garden:



The St. Thomas, built in 1941, was a contemporary development with the first phases of the four set for demolition. I can not find a map of the original development online. I assume its layout was similar to its contemporary developments. If so, the new River Garden as a housing development looks less appealing from above than the courtyards and walkways of the 1940s developments.

Desire Housing Development, now the New Desire; the Google map is old but you can see the layout of the new development:



Fischer Housing Development, the old high rise was demolished for the new Fischer homes (yellow) and the old Fischer low-rise complex (blue) is still there – once again, the Google map is old but you can see the layout:



Guste Housing Development, the new Guste homes (yellow) and old complex (blue), including the high rise – once again, old pics:



Why do I point this out? In another article written in February 2007, the NY Times explains:

The housing agencies’ tabula rasa planning mentality recalls the worst aspects of the postwar Modernist agenda, which substituted a suburban model of homogeneity for an urban one of diversity. The proposal for “traditional-style” pastel houses, set in neat little rows on uniform lots, is a model of conformity that attacks the idea of the city as a place where competing values coexist.

This is reinforced by the plan’s tendency to isolate the new housing from the rest of the city. Often arranged along dead-end cul-de-sacs, the proposed developments lack the mix of big and small buildings, residential apartments and retail shops that could weave them into the surrounding urban fabric.

The point is not to return people to the same housing conditions that existed before Hurricane Katrina, but to distinguish between failures of social policy and design policy. Architects can’t determine the economic mix of residents in public housing developments nor provide education and health services. Their job is to give physical form to social and cultural values.

New buildings alone will not accomplish the mixed-income housing that HUD desires. And new buildings aren't automatically better than the old ones.

If anything, the sturdy period construction of the older projects are the neighborhoods’ biggest asset. Like the old warehouses that attracted residents to the Warehouse District, so, too, could the older and better-planned projects, once renovated and modernized, possibly attract new residents and certainly could adequately house former residents.

If HUD wants to tear down anything, it could focus on the blighted housing scattered throughout the city. A lot of that existed before the storm. HUD could demolish those buildings and put up as many pastel-colored houses as it wants, at the same time contributing to the recovery of various neighborhoods by removing rundown property and replacing it with new development.

"Traditional public housing" in New Orleans is worth saving. A different issue is how public housing is traditionally managed in New Orleans. That is what needs to be changed.

[ADDED] Clay in the comments offers up this related link.

On Deuce

The man hustled off the field last night with a torn ACL. I saw footage of his first ACL tear on the news today. He hustled off the field then, too.

With Deuce gone, the Saints are down more than just their best player.

The Librarian on Deuce’s replacement:

This inevitably means that we'll be watching Saints corporate spokesmodel Reggie Bush attempt to carry more of the rushing load. Last night, Bush carried 7 times for 15 yards and dropped a pass in the endzone.

Via Humid Haney, what Deuce’s replacement thinks the Saints need to do to make the playoffs:

Bush already has that answer.

"We can either go left or right," he said. "We have to make a choice."

Tellingly, Deuce’s replacement left out “straight” as one of the team’s options, as in straight down the field where the endzone is located.

Run straight, Reggie. Like Deuce.

Maybe I need to Give K-Ville Another Chance

Add some machine guns, and this sounds like a plot element:

New Orleans police were chasing two men about 3 p.m. when the men jumped into the waterway at the Interstate 510 (Paris Road) bridge, said Sabrina Richardson, a public information officer for police.

Police took one man into custody. But the other man was not seen again, and police and the Coast Guard launched a search, including a Coast Guard helicopter.

I won't have a final opinion on K-Ville until the character of the Mayor is introduced. Then I will know if I can watch it again.

In Our Own Small Way...

Rising Tide II and a few bloggers contributed to the first line in this NY Times article:

The schools here have fresh paint, the bathroom stalls have doors, the library at the largest high school has books again and the angry demonstrations that met last school year’s chaotic opening have not been repeated.

We may not have painted the entire school, but the trim on the third floor halls of A.P. Tureaud is pretty shades of blue because a few of you showed up.

Showing up is half the battle. (According to GI Joe, knowing is the other half. I would say showing up is the tougher half.)

ADDED: Front page, no less.

Nagin Annouces Future Location of Storm Shelters

Just outside Dallas, TX:

Records show the mayor bought a 1,700-square-foot townhouse in Frisco, about 25 miles north of Dallas. Sales prices are not public records in Texas, but the developer's Web site shows that models like the one purchased by Nagin start at just less than $200,000. The Nagins took out a mortgage for $157,490, records show.

Nagin declined Friday to comment on the purchase, calling it a "personal investment."

Last year, Nagin acknowledged that he was investigating a piece of real estate in the Dallas area, where his wife has relatives.

"If I buy it, it will be like a second hurricane home," he said then, calling the property "a little two-bedroom townhome that's very modest."

(actual announcement here)

When We Go Marching In

Tens of thousands of people marched in Jena Thursday to shine a light on the injustice done to six young men excessively charged, some charged with murder, for beating up a fellow student. Living in an environment that allowed a white-only tree, that called hanging nooses in that tree a prank, that allowed the DA to intimidate students and discourage them from speaking out about those nooses and that tree, that allowed white students to batter and threaten black students – possibly with a weapon – and not be similarly charged, the Jena Six deserved the attention of the marchers.

Countrymen and women, meet another group that deserves your attention. Meet the NOLA 148 and growing:

Corey Hayes, Cedric Johnson, Hilary Campbell Jr., Randall Thomas, Kevin Williams, Helen Hill, Jealina Brown, Steve Blair, Jeffery Santos, Chivas Doyle, Christopher Ruth, Tyrone Andrew Johnson, Ronald Holmes, James McGittigan Jr., Roy Warner Jr., Eldon Gaddis, David Crater, Daniel Allen, Chrishondolaye Lamothe, Tamara Gabriel, Robert Dawson, Michael Dunbar, Damon Brooks, Ivan Brooks, Alden Wright, Harrison Miller, Roy Grant, David Cagnalatti, Lionel Ware III, Aaron Allen, Josh Rodrigue, Herbert Preston, Byron Love, Ronnie Keelen, Mitchell Pierce, Kevin Pham, Kevana Price, Warren Thompson, Glynn Francois Jr., Sean Robinson, Larry Ramee III, Warren Simpson, Antoine Williams, Terry Despenza, Eldridge Ellis, Travis Johnson, Phillip R. Boykins, Charley Zeno, Carl Anthony McLendon, Terry Brock, Cleveland Daniels, Alexander Williams, Terry Hall, Dominic Bell, Gregory Singleton, Damont Jenkins, Troy Thomas, Artherine Williams, Keith Moore, Nicholas Smith, Eligio Bismark Espinoza, Daniel L. Prieto, Curtis Helms Jr., Troy Dent, Curtis Brenson, Michael Combs, Jay Landers, Mark Oneal, Corey Coleman, Emanuel Gardner, Edward Charles Balser, Arthur Dowell, Montrell Faulkin, Anthony Placide, Ernest Williams, Harry Heinzt Jr., Robert Billiot, Willie Simmons, Tammie Johnson, Larry Hawkins, Terrell Ceazer, George Hammond, Persale R. Green, Joseph Magee, Albert Phillips, Samuel Gonzales, Darryl Williams, Robin Malta, Jason Wynne, Jerrell Jackson, Christopher Roberts, Samuel Williams Jr., Jeremy Tillman, Jennifer Williams, Gary Walls, Arthur Jackson IV, Henry Newman, Johnny Martin III, Travan Coates, Jeffery Tate, Jerome Banks, Eric Fobbs, Keith Page, Adrian Davis, Paul Burks, Leon Williams Jr., Dallas Jerome, James Johnson, Anthony White, Dellshea LeBlanc, John W. Barrow III, Kevin Underwood, Pablo Mejia Jr., unidentified man, Thomas Jackson, unidentified man, Demond Phillips, Michael Phillips, Luong Nguyen, Anjelique Vu, Terry Johnson, Chauncy Smith, Cornelius Curry, Nia Robertson, Kadeem Wise, Percy Read, Freddie Davis II, Edwin Stuart, Corwin Shaffer, Julio Benitez-Cruz, Wilford Holmes, Perry L. Oliver, Donald Gullage, Kong Kham Vongvilay, Wisan Inthamat, Boon Roopmoh, Louis Heim, Brandon Snowton, Carnell Wallis, Thomas Dominick, Larry Gooden, Gerald Howard, Larry Butler Jr., Phillip A. Carmouche Jr., unidentified man, Aaron Harvey, Mario Anthony Green, unidentified man…

All of these people died a violent death in New Orleans this year. I count 148. The Times-Picayune says at least 150 people have been murdered.

I wanted to make the point that this, too, is an injustice. And that it disproportionately affects the African-American community.

But I couldn’t find the numbers to back that up, even though I am confident that by far the majority of those murdered in New Orleans are African-American, based on where the murders happen and my personal experience as a news photographer and seeing the murdered human beings myself. I get my information for this blog from media accounts, and the media does not think it is politically correct to reveal the race of the victim. Obviously, I disagree with this because I think race is part of the story.

The NOPD started off the year including the race of the victim in their press releases. But they stopped. It went from "This morning, members of the New Orleans Police Department are investigating the murder of a local 40-year-old African-American male" to "This morning, members of the New Orleans Police Department are investigating the shooting death of a 33-year-old local male."

I do know, of the NOLA 148, 140 were killed by a gun or guns. 135 were men. 97 were 30 years old or younger. 33 of those were 20 years old or younger.

148 murders 264 days into the year – a murder every 1.7 days, or basically a murder every other day. At that rate, we will end the year with 204 murders. If nothing changes, 56 more human beings will die a violent death on the streets of New Orleans. In a city with a population of 300,000, that comes to a murder rate of 68 murders per 100,000 residents.

That’s too many. It’s too much.

It’s worthy of a march.

Bring down your buses. Bring down your people. Bring down your t-shirts, your celebrities, your bottle water. Bring down your feet and wear comfortable shoes.

And join the people in the 9th Ward, the 7th Ward and Mid-City. Join the people in Gentilly, the East, and Hollygrove. Join the people Uptown, Downtown, and all around town.

From Central City to Carrollton, let us march on City Hall. From the French Quarter to the Bywater, let us march on Tulane and Broad. From the Marigny to Lakeview, let us march where we need to be seen, be heard, and be felt.

Maybe the Mayor will show up for this march, too.

This isn’t a city of 3,000. We are 300,000 strong. We are black. We are white. We speak English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and every other language you would expect to hear at a port. Including pirate.

If Jesse and Al come down with their crew, they might be surprised to see more of us here than them.

Even the Saints can come. Heck, let’s do it Monday night before the game. Monday Night Foot-All live from New Orleans. Are you ready for some marching?

Are you?

Shake Me at My Core

Today is the next day. The day after you marched. How do you feel? Do you still feel it?

Can you tell me about it? I wasn’t there.

I am reading the media accounts. I am reading a lot about how people were anticipating something great. Something big. Something was about to happen.

Did it happen? Tell me about it.

Because what I am hearing is not shaking me at my core. Why did you march? What was the quality of your intent? The intent determines the results. What results did you hope to achieve?

Why did you march?

I wasn’t there. Should I have been? Why?

Why did you march?

I have heard a few reasons that make me wonder:

"This is our time to get on the bus."

"To some extent, what you can expect to see is a rebirth of the civil rights movement," said Ki-Afi Moyo, organizer of Dallas-based Internet community "Tx Supports Jena Six," which filled 20 chartered buses for the trip to Louisiana. "The grassroots response to this has been phenomenal.”

The Rev Sharpton, who arrived at Jena's courthouse with members of the defendants' families, said it was "the beginning of the 21st century civil rights movement", one that would challenge imbalances in the US justice system.

"Jena is a defining moment, just like Selma was a defining moment."

Tina Cheatham missed the civil rights marches at Selma, Montgomery and Little Rock, but she had no intention of missing another brush with history. The 24-year-old Georgia Southern University graduate drove all night to reach tiny Jena in central Louisiana.

"It was a good chance to be part of something historic since I wasn't around for the civil rights movement. This is kind of the 21st century version of it," she said.

"I want my children to be part of history," said A.J. Walker, 33, a black police officer from Houston who took photographs of her two sons and daughter outside the high school. "I want to show them they have to stand for something."

“This morning I was crying … when we drove into Jena,” said Nadonya Muslim, 40, of Detroit. “I was thinking, we’re a part of history.”

Why did *you* march?

Was to be part of history? Or was it to make history?

Did you march because you had to be there? Did you march because if this was beginning of the 21st century civil rights movement, then you couldn’t miss it?

Or did you march to *make it* the beginning of the 21st century civil rights movement?

Did you march so you can tell your grandchildren, “I was there?” Did you take a picture to prove you were there? Did it matter where “there” was?

I wasn’t there. That’s why I ask.

Did you have fun? Is that why you went? Was it hard? Was it easy?

Why aren’t you marching today?

Marching is a good thing. I wish I had marched. I didn’t.

If it seems like I am questioning why tens of thousands of people marched in Jena yesterday, I am. I am questioning them and challenging them to tell me why they marched. I want them speak and shake me at my core. I want the impact of their words to be shattering.

Tens of thousands of people at one march makes one impact on one day. Tens of thousands of people speaking tens of thousands of words in the tens of thousands of places, wherever they may be, makes tens of thousands of impacts.

Make that impact shattering.

Today I want to tell the city of Selma, (Tell them, Doctor) today I want to say to the state of Alabama, (Yes, sir) today I want to say to the people of America and the nations of the world, that we are not about to turn around. (Yes, sir) We are on the move now. (Yes, sir)

Yes, we are on the move and no wave of racism can stop us. (Yes, sir) We are on the move now. The burning of our churches will not deter us. (Yes, sir) The bombing of our homes will not dissuade us. (Yes, sir) We are on the move now. (Yes, sir) The beating and killing of our clergymen and young people will not divert us. We are on the move now. (Yes, sir) The wanton release of their known murderers would not discourage us. We are on the move now. (Yes, sir) Like an idea whose time has come, (Yes, sir) not even the marching of mighty armies can halt us. (Yes, sir) We are moving to the land of freedom. (Yes, sir)

Let us therefore continue our triumphant march (Uh huh) to the realization of the American dream. (Yes, sir) Let us march on segregated housing (Yes, sir) until every ghetto or social and economic depression dissolves, and Negroes and whites live side by side in decent, safe, and sanitary housing. (Yes, sir) Let us march on segregated schools (Let us march, Tell it) until every vestige of segregated and inferior education becomes a thing of the past, and Negroes and whites study side-by-side in the socially-healing context of the classroom.

Let us march on poverty (Let us march) until no American parent has to skip a meal so that their children may eat. (Yes, sir) March on poverty (Let us march) until no starved man walks the streets of our cities and towns (Yes, sir) in search of jobs that do not exist. (Yes, sir) Let us march on poverty (Let us march) until wrinkled stomachs in Mississippi are filled, (That's right) and the idle industries of Appalachia are realized and revitalized, and broken lives in sweltering ghettos are mended and remolded.

Let us march on ballot boxes, (Let's march) march on ballot boxes until race-baiters disappear from the political arena.

Let us march on ballot boxes until the salient misdeeds of bloodthirsty mobs (Yes, sir) will be transformed into the calculated good deeds of orderly citizens. (Speak, Doctor)

Let us march on ballot boxes (Let us march) until the Wallaces of our nation tremble away in silence.

Let us march on ballot boxes (Let us march) until we send to our city councils (Yes, sir), state legislatures, (Yes, sir) and the United States Congress, (Yes, sir) men who will not fear to do justly, love mercy, and
walk humbly with thy God.

Let us march on ballot boxes (Let us march. March) until brotherhood becomes more than a meaningless word in an opening prayer, but the order of the day on every legislative agenda.

Let us march on ballot boxes (Yes) until all over Alabama God's children will be able to walk the earth in decency and honor.

There is nothing wrong with marching in this sense.

***

I know you are asking today, "How long will it take?" (Speak, sir) Somebody's asking, "How long will prejudice blind the visions of men, darken their understanding, and drive bright-eyed wisdom from her sacred throne?" Somebody's asking, "When will wounded justice, lying prostrate on the streets of Selma and Birmingham and communities all over the South, be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men?" Somebody's asking, "When will the radiant star of hope be plunged against
the nocturnal bosom of this lonely night, (Speak, speak, speak) plucked from weary souls with chains of fear and the manacles of death? How long will justice be crucified, (Speak) and truth bear it?" (Yes, sir)

I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, (Yes, sir) however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, (No sir) because "truth crushed to earth will rise again." (Yes, sir)

How long? Not long, (Yes, sir) because "no lie can live forever." (Yes, sir)

How long? Not long, (All right. How long) because "you shall reap what you sow." (Yes, sir)

How long? (How long?) Not long: (Not long)

Truth forever on the scaffold, (Speak)

Wrong forever on the throne, (Yes, sir)

Yet that scaffold sways the future, (Yes, sir)

And, behind the dim unknown,

Standeth God within the shadow,

Keeping watch above his own.

How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. (Yes, sir)

How long? Not long, (Not long) because:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; (Yes, sir)

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; (Yes)

He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword; (Yes, sir)

His truth is marching on. (Yes, sir)

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; (Speak, sir)

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat. (That's right)

O, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant my feet!

Our God is marching on. (Yeah)

Glory, hallelujah! (Yes, sir) Glory, hallelujah! (All right)

Glory, hallelujah! Glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on. [Applause]

Not long now.

I have to think that, of all the signs that may have been present at Selma is 1965, none of them were like this one at Jena in 2007:

FREE THE JENA 6 T-SHIRTS ON SALE HERE

Why did you march?